Winner of the National Book Award, White Noise tells the story of Jack Gladney, his fourth wife, Babette, and four ultramodern offspring as they navigate the rocky passages of family life to the background babble of brand-name consumerism. When an industrial accident unleashes an “airborne toxic event,” a lethal black chemical cloud floats over their lives. The menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the “white noise” engulfing the Gladneys—radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmurings—pulsing with life, yet suggesting something ominous.
Download and start listening now!
"Don DeLillo is my favorite author these days. Yes, "favorite", like you might have a favorite color or candy bar. It's almost embarrassing how starting one of his books is like sinking into a warm bath for me, as the old cliche has it. I'm so grateful that I came to him so late. When this book was written (1985) I was still making ambitious but naive and superficial performance art."
— Robert (4 out of 5 stars)
“DeLillo perfectly captures the fatigue of living in a hyperconnected world.”
— Time“One of the most ironic, intelligent, grimly funny voices to comment on life in present-day America . . . [White Noise] poses inescapable questions with consummate skill.”
— New York Times Book Review" It is entirely possible that I have overrated this book. But I read this a while ago, and it was my first introduction to good, quality english writing, and my mind was blown away. "
— Kenyon, 2/15/2014" Utterly Vonnegutian in nature, DeLillo's brilliant prosaic inventions are gnawed in the hyperbolic maelstrom of 'White Noise'. The novel seeks to cast a satirical, foreboding eye on present Western society. In doing so, it falls prey to its own overenthusiastic sarcasm. This work screams 'late-night-90's-television-movies'. Disappointing to see such a lack of realistic depth from this brilliant writer. The meaning is lost in its flippant delivery. "
— Carolyn, 2/7/2014" This book was very well written, but I spent almost my entire time reading it waiting for the "point." It seemed like everything in it was significant, but I didn't know why, and the climax of the story did not answer my questions. But good writing an extremely clever dialogue. Overall enjoyable, but maybe somewhat lost on me. "
— Tamara, 1/29/2014" Witty, timely and the ending leaves you wondering if you like the whole damn thing or not. I sat with it for a bit and finally decided it is brilliant. DeLillo has a way of flipping a switch on the reader. Its crafty and I really admire it. "
— Liz, 1/26/2014" Either I got this book's message and just got tired of it or I am too stupid to understand what DeLillo is trying to say. Either way, I found the characters annoying (which I think was purposeful but when I don't care about the characters, it's hard for me to care about the book), the dialogue strange and irritating, and it just dragged on and on. In the end, for me, it was, like the title, just a lot of White Noise. Perhaps also the purpose?? Or maybe DeLillo is just way over my head. "
— Natalie, 1/20/2014" brilliant and precise depiction of postmodern life, with supermarket at its center and fear of death as the underlying and organizing principle. Dylaramaaa "
— Era, 1/15/2014" Douglas Coupland owes this guy, big-time. "
— Margaret, 1/8/2014" Absolutely terrible. If I didn't have to read it, I don't think I'd ever finish it. There is no plot (or at least I didn't notice one), characters are annoying and the whole book in general is a waste of time. I would recommend skipping it and reading something that is actually good instead. "
— Valentina, 12/26/2013" This is the only DeLillo I've read so far but boy, was it good! I literally had a pit in my stomach and a sense of dread the entire time I was reading it. Which I guess is what DeLillo intended. "
— Stephanie, 12/13/2013" Maybe it suffered for me, as a later reader, because of how influential it is. I just didn't see the revolution in it that I'd been told about. "
— Trevor, 11/12/2013" jibberish "
— Hortense, 9/3/2013" Just re-read this for first time in 5 years. Even better than I remember. "
— Justin, 2/18/2013" While I understood the points this book made, the actual reading of this book was long and uneventful. The themes did cause me to think but I just didn't enjoy the process of reading through all of this malarky to get there. "
— Margaret, 12/19/2012" A glimpse into American life laced somewhat deceptively with pop-culture inferences in the form of trios, for example; Visa, AmEx, MasterCard. These make codas between narrative units that, given time, begin to point to a less-obvious layer of meaning in the book. A fine re-read. "
— Jeremy, 10/25/2012" 5 stars! Best book I have ever read! About the meaning of Life and Death! Do we need TV, are we afraid of everything that comes our way! It was an eye-opener! Read it if you are afraid of death, which are 100% of the population of this world! "
— Francine, 4/23/2012" Even though I pretty much hated the adult characters in this book(I loved the kids) I gave it a high rating for the brilliant scene(s)of the escape of the ATE, it's pursuit by the "authorities", and the evacuation of the helpless civilians. Darkest black comedy. The guy's got talent. "
— Chris, 1/20/2012" a reader has penned on the final page, "spiritually empty tabloid society." all the things that aren't love or food that we need, all found in the tabloids. white noise. so very white. "
— jesse, 11/20/2011" This has been on my list to read for a while (well, anything by Don DeLillo), so glad I found a copy. "
— Xavier, 10/2/2011" not my favorite delillo...<br/>too topical, "
— Louis, 5/11/2011" Disorientating and distant. Somehow, the events of 9/11 seem even further away now. Confusing. Almost too bleak a tone to tolerate - but now that bin Laden is dead, something seems off about this worldview now. Maybe it is a fragment of hope. "
— Kaworu, 5/3/2011" I could have lived without it. "
— Nicole, 1/28/2011" Amazing book, portraying one of the most horryifing events in the new American history as a background to what people had gone through on that day. Unsettling and devestating, even if there is no closure, as there isn't any in real life, just time.<br/> "
— Gaj, 1/27/2011Don DeLillo is the author of seventeen novels which have won the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the PEN/Saul Bellow Award, the Jerusalem Prize for his complete body of work, and the William Dean Howells Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2013 he was awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, and in 2015, the National Book Foundation awarded DeLillo its Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Michael Prichard is a Los Angeles-based actor who has played several thousand characters during his career, over one hundred of them in theater and film. He is primarily heard as an audiobook narrator, having recorded well over five hundred full-length books. His numerous awards and accolades include an Audie Award for Tears in the Darkness by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman and six AudioFile Earphones Awards. He was named a Top Ten Golden Voice by SmartMoney magazine. He holds an MFA in theater from the University of Southern California.